The Brotherhood Of Satan — The Brotherhood Of Satan(Blu Ray)

The Brotherhood Of Satan is one of the lesser-seen/ known films of the later ’60s/ early 70’s satanic horror-thriller genre. Here from the folks at Arrow Video- both in the UK and USA, is a most welcome Blu Ray release of the film. It’s a darkly heady blend of creepy kids kill action and demented elderly folk worship the horned one- with moments of eerier dread, bright red gore, and some great touches of jarring terror.

Released in the year 1971 The Brotherhood Of Satan (working titles The Guru Vampire and Come In Children) the picture was filmed in and around a sweaty and dusty small town in New Mexico. It was directed by New York born Bernard McEveety- between the years 1960 and 1988 he had seventy-three credits to his name, though these were mainly US TV series credits. In all he helmed four feature-length credits- these went from Chuck Connors fronted western Ride Beyond Vengence( 1966), onto family adventure/ drama featuring two children who run away with a Circus lion Napoleon and Samantha(1972). Some of the cast and scoping of The Brotherhood Of Satan feel maybe a little TV movie-like in places, but on the whole, it’s decidedly moody-to- jarring- and satisfying horrifying picture. 

The film focuses on a thirty-something couple Ben(Charles Bateman), Nicky(Ahna Capri), and Ben’s eight-year-old daughter K.T(Geri Reischl). While driving along a desert road- the three come across a nasty car crash, they make their way to a nearby town to report the issue- but start getting attacked by the townsfolk when trying to get out of the car. They off course panic, start trying to drive out and crash themselves as a young girl appears then disappears in the road. We find out that numerous kids have disappeared from the town with their parents been killed too, in nasty/ unsettling ways. It turns out that a group of elderly satanic worshipers are pulling the children in, and via them, the horn one is killing off their parents.

 
The film is a lot less schlocky and cheesy than many of the films in the satanic thriller/ horror genre. It starts off wonderfully disorientating and disturbing manner as we go from seeing a toy tank switching into a full-sized tank crushing a car and its passengers. As we move on we have creepy crying dolls, suddenly expiring parents with lulling mouths and bulbous eyes, unsettling children's tea parties with black and grimson red cakes been fed to little ones by face-less black gowned figures, a neat decapitation, deranged-yet- creepy bloody stabbings, and a darkly tripped out dream sequence. Heading up the satanic side of things we have Srother Martin as the wild grey-haired and crazy-eyed priest, and on the opposing side, we have out of his depth and scared sheriff L.Q. Jones. The Brotherhood Of Satan is certainly a distinctive and at points wonderfully jarring addition to the satanic terror genre, and it ends as it started rather creepy and a little puzzling- certainly no upbeat Hollywood ending here.

 
Moving onto this new Blu Ray release. On the extras we get a commentary track from writers/ genre commentators Kim Newman and Sean Hogan- this is chatty, if at points slightly sporadic track. It sees the pair moving from discussing the disorientating/ jarring opening tank kill, moving onto talk about how the film rather sat between the old gothic horror of the past and the more edgy horror of the ’70s. They discuss actors who were chosen and how they work in their roles, and the other films of Bernard McEveety. They talk about how this was one of the first films to use the town you can’t get out of horror trope, and other tropes the picture takes from early films. They discuss scenes they like and more. In all, it’s a good track, though at points one did feel they were running out of things to say/ repeating points made, but if you enjoyed the film it’s certainly worth a play. Other extras take in Satanic Panic: How the 1970s Conjured the Brotherhood of Satan- an eighteen-minute visual essay from David Flint, editor of The Reprobate. This puts The Brotherhood of Satan in the context with the 70’s obsession with all things occult, moving onto discuss the picture itself and it's a good general overview/ review of the film. Next, we get The Children of Satan- an eighteen-minute on-screen interview with actors Jonathan Erickson Eisley and Alyson Moore- who were the son and daughter of the films two producers/ actors L.Q. Jones and Alvy Moore. And lastly an image gallery/ trailer.
 
It’s great to see this distinctive and at points wonderfully disorientating slice of 70’s satanic horror getting the usual classy Arrow Video treatment. With the Blu Ray disc taking in a nice bright and bold print, and a good selection of extras to boot.